Search smh:

Search in:

Hughes confident of firing on return

Jesse Hogan

PHILLIP Hughes says he will return to Test cricket on Friday in Hobart completely unburdened by the miserable run of form he endured last summer.

Approaching his third stint in the Test team – the left-hander was dropped during the 2009 Ashes and then again after last summer's Bellerive Oval Test – Hughes said he was "a lot more settled and very calm" about his latest chance at international level.

"It was about 12 months ago – to nearly the day – that I got dropped. Twelve months down the track I feel like I'm in a better place now," Hughes said before Australia's first training session for the match against Sri Lanka.

"I knew it was going to be tough to get back, no doubt. I had to score heavily for South Australia in the Shield to get back here. It happened quite quick. I feel like I've done a lot of work behind the scene. I knew I had to make sacrifices as well along the way, that was definitely one to pull out of the Twenty20 comp last year, to work on my technique and become a better player. I feel like a lot better player than 12 months ago, that's the most pleasing thing." Hughes said his scoring, formerly so reliant on cuts between third man and cover, was now a lot more rounded.

Advertisement

"It is a lot different. I hit probably 70 to 80 per cent of my scores on the off side. I feel now that I've got both sides of the field covered. That's something I had to go away and work on. My leg-side play was something big in my mind that I had to focus on.

"I feel now that [the changes], in all forms, have really opened up my leg [side]. I'm free-flowing now through that side. It's just easier when they do both straight that I can work off my hip and into the leg side."

Australia opener Ed Cowan, who replaced Hughes a year ago, said on Monday he was worried Hughes would face undue criticism if he had to be dismissed edging to slips, which he notoriously did in four consecutive innings against NZ last summer. Hughes, however, insisted he was unfazed by that prospect.

"Not at all. Top-order batsmen – all batsmen – get caught behind, in the cordon or by the keeper," he said.

"The big thing is that if I do get in I want to make big scores. That's what the great players do around the world. We've seen Michael Clarke this summer already, once he gets in he cashes in. That's what all batsmen want to do and that's a big focus of mine.

"For South Australia I have been caught behind already this season, there's no doubt about that. But if I do get past that initial period of 20 or 30 balls I want to go on."

While Hughes is expected to bat at number three, with Shane Watson moving up to four in place of Ricky Ponting, the 24-year-old said he had yet to be informed which position he would be batting at against Sri Lanka.